The present invention relates to software tools for facilitating automated circuit design. More specifically, the present invention relates to an integrated design methodology which employs different combinations of software design tools to effect a complete circuit design from a top level block diagram to the bottom level circuit implementation.
There are a number of commercially available software design tools for designing programmable logic devices. The level of expertise required to use these tools and the complexity of the tools themselves vary rather dramatically. Some tools employ a syntax-heavy approach which requires sophisticated programming skills and intimate knowledge of a text editor. Others employ a more userfriendly visual approach which relies on the manipulation of visual objects using a graphic editor. In the past, the common denominator for such design tools has been that each is typically employed to specify the circuit level implementation of the logic device. The higher levels of the design process were left to the discretion and idiosyncrasies of the individual designer who would, in many cases, implement and document the high level design using paper and pencil. Not only can this result in inconsistent documentation of the design, it makes it difficult for design information to be shared among collaborating designers.
There are computer aided drawing (CAD) tools with which a designer can create high level design representations such as block diagrams in a graphical user interface. However, such CAD tools do not interface with the design tools used for defining the circuit level implementation of the blocks in the block diagram. Even with an electronically created block diagram, unrelated design files must be created with separate design tools for the implementation of the individual blocks of the diagram. That is, a block diagram created with a currently available CAD tool is about as useful as a hand drawn block diagram with regard to the circuit level implementation of a design.
Virtually no automated tools have been available with which a designer can begin implementation of his design at some level higher than the circuit level. Thus, even though some exemplary automated design tools exist, there is still considerable inefficiency in the way in which higher level designs are implemented.
It is therefore desirable to provide a design methodology and associated design tools with which a designer may implement his design from the top down, beginning with the system requirements all the way down to the circuit level implementation. It is also desirable that such a design methodology be able to integrate currently available circuit design tools.